Judge gives shooter up to life in prison for Albany street killing

Judge rejects defense plea for leniency in street killing

1of3Jarquell Williams, left, and his attorney, Michael Feit, await sentencing by state Supreme Court Justice Thomas Breslin. Williams was sentenced to 25 years in prison for killing a man in 2014 in Albany. (Bob Gardinier / Times Union)2of3Jarquell Williams, left, awaits sentencing by state Supreme Court Justice Thomas Breslin. Williams was sentenced to 25 years in prison for killing a man in 2014 in Albany. (Bob Gardinier / Times Union)3of3Jarquell Williams, left, awaits sentencing by state Supreme Court Justice Thomas Breslin. Williams was sentenced to 25 years in prison for killing a man in 2014 in Albany. (Bob Gardinier / Times Union)

Albany

A defense attorney on Friday said his client did not fatally shoot a man last year but was a victim of the "mean streets" where everyone "straps on" a weapon.

Judge Thomas Breslin sentenced Williams, a repeat felon, to 25 years to life in prison.

Last month, an Albany County jury found Williams guilty of shooting Rowlett in the head on Oct. 16, 2014, on South Pearl Street.

"Everyone hanging out in that area is carrying a gun sometime or other," Feit said, suggesting someone else shot Rowlett. Williams "did not have a weapon and did not fire a weapon."

The judge did not buy the argument.

"I am troubled by your comments, Mr. Feit, that everyone in that area 'straps on' on occasion and your client did not do this," Breslin said. "Have you thought that he was lying to you?"

Feit also argued before sentencing that there was no intent on the shooter's part as the firing was random and the fatal bullet was just a lucky shot.

"If you take out a weapon, point it at someone and pull the trigger, that is screaming intent," Breslin said. "He decided that day he would just 'strap one on.'"

On Oct. 2, a jury deliberated for three hours before convicting Williams of second-degree murder and weapons charges.

Prosecutors said Williams fired multiple times after Rowlett, 25, known as "Markie" and "Ki$$," fired first.

They said Williams chased Rowlett down the street amid heavy pedestrian, commuter and school bus traffic and left the victim lying beside his bike with a head wound. Rowlett died in the hospital two days later.

During the trial, Assistant District Attorney Daniel Lynch noted several onlookers saw Rowlett lying on the ground near South Pearl and Bassett streets, but simply took photos and shot videos. Nurses from a nearby health clinic helped Rowlett.

"I want my baby back," the victim's mother, Mary Rowlett, struggled to say before she broke down and paused before continuing. "I cry every day. This is the most powerless I have ever felt in my whole life."

"I miss my baby brother," Darrin Rowlett said. "The pain still hurts. Sometimes, I'd like to express that pain in a way that is unlawful but I have to raise his 7-year-old son and explain to him what happened to his dad. He loved that boy. They were very close."

Williams showed little emotion and did not comment to the court.

After the shooting, Williams hid in a friend's apartment on Bassett Street and waged a standoff with police. A SWAT team and U.S. marshals surrounded the building, taking positions on rooftops.

He was arrested after police used tear gas to flush him from the building, Lynch said.

Williams has prior felony convictions for drug possession in 2005 and for assaulting a police officer in 2009.